Amadeus’ Outpayce subsidiary, which was launched last year to evolve the travel technology giant’s payments business, has been granted an eMoney institution (EMI) licence by the Bank of Spain.
As a licensed eMoney issuer, Outpayce will be able to provide regulated payment services in Spain – such as accepting customer funds, issuing pre-paid debit cards, and offering transfers of funds on a payment account and, in the future, passport its services across the European Union.
Outpayce intends to use these new capabilities to simplify travel payments in several areas. For example, it will soon be possible to use Outpayce-issued pre-paid virtual cards across travel agency booking systems and corporate self-booking tools to pay providers such as airlines and hotels. In addition, the virtual cards will enable business travelers to pay for on-trip expenses like taxis or meals with their digital wallets.
By issuing pre-paid debit cards, Outpayce will simplify the payments experience, ensuring closer integration with travel booking systems, whilst offering travel companies improved choice.
Outpayce chief executive, David Doctor, commented: “Becoming a licensed entity is an important step in our journey to simplify payments across the travel industry. Not only do we have the regulatory greenlight to begin issuing cards, but we’re already building a modern FinTech stack natively in the Microsoft Azure cloud with plans to partner with an increased number of leading financial institu-tions and innovative start-ups. This move complements Outpayce’s open payments platform that will allow any FinTech company to easily connect with Amadeus’ travel customers. With core banking in the cloud and with the eMoney license, we are one step closer to Outpayce’s vision to deliver a smooth and connected travel payments experience to travelers.”
Outpayce currently provides payer services to help travel sellers make B2B payments to airlines and hotels using modern methods like virtual cards with its B2B Wallet solution. In collaboration with third parties, it also offers services to merchants like airlines and travel sellers so they can accept the widest range of card and local payment methods through websites, mobile, call centres and physical touchpoints, such as check-in desks.
